


The Greatest Show

by Akiragane



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, Dangan Ronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc, Super Dangan Ronpa 2
Genre: A little bit of Angst if you squint, Acrobatics, Alternate Universe - Circus, Animals, But like mostly plot, Comedy, Excessive smoking, F/F, F/M, Fireworks, Fluff, Inspired by a Tumblr Ask, Lowkey a Musical, M/M, Not really crack tho, Swearing, Sword Juggling, because that's not welcome in a school environment, no animal abuse, takes place in like the 1950-60s
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-01
Updated: 2020-11-21
Packaged: 2021-03-08 21:21:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 19,172
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27243388
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Akiragane/pseuds/Akiragane
Summary: Hope's Peak Circus is one of the best around, even though it's incredibly underappreciated. When Fuyuhiko first comes to the show he's blown away, the show far exceeding his original expectations. He's incredibly entranced by a particular cigar-smoking swordswoman.However, the circus itself isn't often taken seriously, run by a bunch of younger people than circuses are often run by. One of which is Hiyoko Saionji, who, if she will say so herself, practically carries the show by herself.When Hope's Peak is going bankrupt, who will be the one to drag them up from rock bottom?
Relationships: Hanamura Teruteru & Saionji Hiyoko, Koizumi Mahiru & Saionji Hiyoko, Kuzuryu Fuyuhiko/Pekoyama Peko, Minor or Background Relationship(s)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 19





	1. Ladies And Gentlemen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> **Trigger warning:** As stated in the tags, there is excessive smoking in this. A lot of the characters smoke due to the time this takes place in. I promise they are all of the legal age to be doing so.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HEYO
> 
> I was given this prompt from an ask from Tumblr (who is choosing to stay anonymous) and honestly, I wanted to have some fun with this.
> 
> I'm really excited about this one and personally, I had a lot of fun writing it, so I hope you enjoy it too!"

"This is so idiotic." Fuyuhiko scowled.

Natsumi puffed out her cheeks and bonked him on the head. "Oh, c'mon! They're only in town for a week and I got us VIP seats! Be grateful you little shit!"

Fuyuhiko rubbed his head as they walked into the big colourful tent. So far it didn't really look all that flashy or great. Hell, Fuyuhiko had never even been to a circus before but he already could tell this would be boring. They arrived at the "VIP" seats, which was basically a wooden box with nicer seats and snacks at the place where you would be able to see the best. Fuyuhiko sat down and crossed his legs. "I'm not getting my hopes up, bet you a nickel they'll have the same fucking acts as every other standard circus."

Natsumi smacked his arm, mouth full of chocolate-covered sticks. "First of all, how dare you make an unintended pun. Second of all, Hope's Peak is supposed to be different from other circuses. Apparently, they are one of the only ones that are animal cruelty-free."

"Only proving my point that this will be dumb," Fuyuhiko grumbled.

Natsumi scowled. The lights dimmed and Fuyuhiko leaned back, expecting to fall asleep right away. To his surprise, within a matter of seconds, everything was pitch black. He couldn't see anything. He blinked, still nothing. Is this how circuses usually work?

Then a light right in the middle turned on, training on the man in the middle, wearing a traditional ringmaster outfit, hat pulled over his eyes. He smirked. " _Ladies and gents, this is the moment you've waited for_."

The entire circus shook, not like an earthquake, more controlled. It startled Fuyuhiko enough that he let out a gasp. Natsumi giggled. The ringmaster tilted his hat up, finally revealed heterochromic eyes, one green, one a brilliant crimson. " _You've been searchin' in the dark, your sweat soakin' through the floor._ "

The room shook again, but this time Fuyuhiko was ready for it and he held onto his seat. The ringmaster started walking towards the audience. " _And buried in your bones there's an ache that you can't ignore, takin' your breath, stealin' your mind. And all that was real is left behind_..."

Another light near the ceiling illuminated a girl with wild brown hair walking on a trapeze, on her hands, back arched so her feet were in front of her. People oohed and aahed, but Fuyuhiko was just confused. "Shouldn't they have a net or something?"

Natsumi shook her head. "She doesn't need one," she replied.

The ringmaster chuckled. " _Don't fight it, it's comin' for you, runnin' at ya. It's only this moment, don't care what comes after. Your fever dream, can't you see it gettin' closer? Just surrender 'cause you feel the feelin' takin' over_."

Another light shined up in the ceiling, this time to reveal a different acrobat, one with snowy white hair, spinning around on a hoop attached to the ceiling that was swaying back and forth. He stopped and waved at the audience, falling down and landing on the tightrope, bouncing the other girl and causing her to go into a front flip and land on the rope, perfectly balanced. The boy held out his hand and she took it, and they started practically dancing across the small rope.

Fuyuhiko raised an eyebrow. Now that was downright inhuman. What kinds of people were these? The ringmaster began tapping his foot as more lights around them turned colourful, spinning around him like a light show. " _It's fire, it's freedom, it's floodin' open. It's a preacher in the pulpit and your blind devotion. There's somethin' breakin' at the brick of every wall. It's holdin' all that you know_..."

He looked directly at Fuyuhiko and smiled. " _So tell me do you wanna go_?!"

With those words, the room revealed the other acts, Fuyuhiko had to look several places at once. " _Where it's cover in all the coloured lights_?" There were elephants and lions on one side, all being led by a man with a scar on his face, and on one of the elephants stood what seemed to be a Princess, a girl with a golden dress and tiara holding roses and waving to the audience. " _Where the runaways are runnin' the night_?" On another side of the room was a girl blasting out notes on the guitar, fire flaming out of the tip. " _Impossible comes true, it's takin' over you_!" Going around the room was a guy on a motorcycle, whooping and cheering at everyone, handing out high-fives to audience members in the first row. And so many more.

" _This is the greatest show_!"

But the thing that caught Fuyuhiko's eyes was the swords juggler. She was a tall woman with long hair pulled into braids framing her face, red eyes behind a pair of glasses, and a huge, almost cartoonishly fat cigar hanging out of her mouth, the label bearing the circus’ insignia. She was tossing around maybe five swords, her hand movements delicate and precise. At one point she threw all up and took a long drag from the cigar before catching all of them, dropping all but one, which she used to cleanly cut off the extra ash from her cigar.

She was absolutely beautiful.

The ringmaster was in the center again, twirling around his walking stick as though it was a baton. " _We light it up, we won't come down! And the sun can't stop us now! Watchin' it come true, it's takin' over you_!"

Someone came up from the back, a petite girl with an intricate kimono, and a remarkably large, ornate pipe hanging from her mouth, one which looked as though it had been stolen from the Qin dynasty a thousand years ago, fireworks strapped all over her body, with one huge one strapped to her back. She held a large, brightly-coloured hammer in one hand, which looked quite big and heavy for someone so small to be carrying, and was dragging a large, even more colourful cannon with her, which bore a sparkling fuse which was growing steadily shorter. " _THIS IS THE GREATEST SHOW_!" she yelled and plugged her ears as the cannon fired in a massive, colourful explosion, accompanied by a smaller but equally vibrant explosion shooting out of her pipe.

A person popped out of it, screaming as he flew through the flap in the circus tent, going so far until he was only a little sparkle in the distance. The ringmaster gave her a thumbs up and then started going up, a pillar in the middle of the room lifting him up all the way to where the acrobats were still on the tightrope. " _Colossal we come these renegades in the ring_..."

The white-haired acrobat smiled and gestured at the ringmaster. " _Where the lost get found in the crown of the circus king_ ," 

The ringmaster nodded to them and the acrobats reached the end of the tightrope, only to come back down holding onto a trapeze and doing flips in the air. The ringmaster himself stepped onto the tightrope and started walking along it, looking down at everyone and twirling his stick. " _Don't fight it, it's comin' for you, runnin' at ya. It's only this moment, don't care what comes after. It's blindin', outshinin' anything that you know. Just surrender 'cause you're callin' and you wanna go_!"

He fell down and an absolutely huge man, all muscle, came and caught him just before he reached the ground. The ringmaster hopped out of his grasp and once again walked towards the audience. " _Where it's covered in all the coloured lights! Where the runaways are runnin' the night! Impossible comes true, intoxicatin' you_!"

The other members of the circus joined in. " _Oh! This is the greatest show!_ " they stopped everything to shout.

The ringmaster laughed. "We light it up, we won't come down! And the sun can't stop us now! Watchin' it come true, it's takin' over you!"

Then all of the circus acts folded in on itself, as though everything was going in reverse. They practically disappeared under the dimming lights until the only thing was the ringmaster in the middle, hat hiding his exotic eyes once again. " _This is the greatest show_..."

The lights turned off, then turned on all of a sudden showing everyone in the middle with the ringmaster at the front. Everyone applauded them loudly. Even Fuyuhiko had to admit that was unlike anything he'd ever seen before.

"Good evening, ladies, gentlemen, and all sides of the spectrum! My name is Izuru Kamukura and I'll be your ringmaster for tonight! Thank you so much for coming to see our lovely circus acts perform!" the ringmaster announced.

Wait, so that wasn't the entire thing? Fuyuhiko was confused. Natsumi, seemingly reading his mind, tapped his shoulder. "That was the opening, now they're gonna go through the acts one at a time, make sense?"

Fuyuhiko nodded, so that's why it advertised a one-hour show. He sat back, ready for the first act.

Of course, it had to be that gorgeous girl with the swords. 

There was a loud bang, and she came out of seemingly nowhere, popping out from the loft from above as though she had been shot from a cannon (which given how the show started, was a distinct possibility), landing gracefully after doing a little tumble across the floor. Izuru presented her, Peko Pekoyama was her name, and she came into the middle, the massive cigar still hanging from her mouth. The lights changed to have a silver and red glow. Peko blew out smoke from her cigar, the grey smoke billowing around her swords. She bit the cigar and tossed them into the air. As they fell she caught them, then threw them back up again, a standard sword juggling act, but then she threw them all back into the air at the same time, blew more smoke out, and all the swords set on fire.

Fuyuhiko's eyes were glued to her as she started tossing them around with practised ease, eyebrows knit in concentration. The way she moved her hands, the fire reflecting in her scarlet eyes, at one point she seemed to have run out of the original cigar, but a new one had simply appeared in her mouth, lighting it with the fire. Fuyuhiko didn’t even remember her getting out a new one. It was hypnotizing. 

Peko stopped in her work and the fire shutoff, the metal wasn't even charred. She tossed all except one to the side, spit out her cigar up into the air, and held the point of the sword into her mouth. The audience gasped. Fuyuhiko raised an eyebrow as she tilted her head back and swallowed the sword all the way to the hilt. People screamed, fearing for her life. Fuyuhiko smirked. This girl was good.

She gestured to Izuru and he pulled the sword out of her mouth for her. She took it back from him and caught her cigar in her mouth as it fell back down, lighting the sword on fire, relighting the cigar, then tossing the sword into the air and taking a huge drag from the cigar. The sword came down and cut the ash off just as she blew out the excess smoke, the fumes flying towards Fuyuhiko and he swore it felt like they were caressing his face.

She pulled something out of her pocket, a bundle of dynamite. One that looked like it would kill her if lit.

She lit it with her cigar, the sparkle of the fuse reflecting off of her glasses, then tossed it into the air, spinning around and cutting the fuse before it exploded, then kicked it through the flap revealing the outside world.

That's it, no other acts could compare to her. She was too much.

But before he could formally cement that idea in his head Peko held up a different sword. "Are any of you brave enough to duel me? I will ensure your safety, I just want to know if you are up for facing off against a lady like myself."

Hands shot up, mostly men that probably thought they could beat her. It took Fuyuhiko a second before he realized Natsumi was raising his hand for him. Peko pointed her sword at him. "You, come down here."

Fuyuhiko shot Natsumi a look and walked down the bleachers towards Peko. She handed him a sword and he weighed it in his hands. He didn't know all that much about sword fighting, but he knew some basic stances. There wasn't any way he was going to beat this girl, though. Peko saluted in respect and Fuyuhiko did the same. Izuru signalled them to start.

Peko launched at him, and Fuyuhiko barely had time to block, much less recover from the sudden attack before the girl was on him again, striking with a precision that almost seemed inhuman. Fuyuhiko could barely keep up and before he knew it his sword was knocked out of his hand and the tip of Peko's blade was pointed at his neck. He gulped and the girl smiled around her enormous cigar. She retracted her sword and bowed, Fuyuhiko bowed as well before going back up to his seat.

Izuru raised her hand up. The girl waved to the audience who whooped and cheered for her. "Thank you, everyone!" Izuru spoke as she headed off the stage.

Fuyuhiko almost felt a kind of sadness as she walked away.

That sadness was quickly replaced with pure, utter awe as Peko, once more, shoved a sword into her throat. But instead of taking it out she simply swallowed it with an audible gulp and a wink, not even removing the massive cigar from her mouth (she seemed to rarely ever remove it) as she swallowed the sword whole.

Fuyuhiko blinked as the audience went crazy. Surely that was dangerous? Well, maybe there was a trick to it, but with all the possibilities running through his head he couldn’t settle on one.

The next act was the acrobats, and as Izuru was introducing them the white-haired one flew in on the trapeze and flipped, landing directly next to him. "Izuru, you know we don't need an introduction!"

The other one entered the same way and grabbed the ringmaster by the neck and took his hat, ruffling his brown hair, making it even more of a mess. "Yeah! Just let us do our thing!"

Izuru laughed and slipped out of the girl's grasp. "As I was saying, these are our acrobats, Nagito Komaeda and Akane Owari!"

Nagito waved to the audience and Akne grinned widely. Izuru stepped back. "I'll let you two be now, show the audience what you've got."

Akane gave Nagito a very serious look. "Don't fuck it up," she warned.

"Wouldn't dream of it."

They grabbed on the trapezes again and got lifted up to the top. Nagito started swinging on it like a child, before flipping over and hanging upside down. Akane swung by her hands and flipped off, Nagito catching her and swinging her behind him, to which Nagito swung forward and nearly came into contact with an audience member, who jumped back. Nagito smiled at them before swinging back, righting himself so he was sitting again, then stood up, and jumped.

Akane, who was on a different trapeze, caught him and then let fall down to the floor. He landed on his knees and held his arms out. Akane jumped off her trapeze, did what seemed to be a triple flip, then landed in Nagito's arms. She hopped out and grabbed onto a rope that fell from the ceiling, Nagito holding onto one next to it. They tied themselves around it and were lifted up to the tight rope platforms.

Akane stepped on it as though this was something she'd done a thousand times (which she probably had) and then leaned down, putting her hands on the rope and pulling her legs forward, doing a small flip on the rope. Nagito mirrored the action and they repeated it in sync until they reached each other. Once they met in the middle they stopped, Nagito grabbing Akane's waist with one hand and the girl wrapping and arm around his shoulder, nose to nose as they turned around on the tightrope, freezing, then both of them lifting a hand out to grab the trapezes swinging past them, separating from each other.

On opposite ends of the stage, there were two ropes. Nagito and Akane grabbed their respective ones, both tying them around their waist. Nagito started spinning around the rope with one leg out and the other wrapped around the rope, slowly moving down while Akane was moving down it, spinning horizontally as the rope shifted around her waist to allow her to move downward.

When they reached the bottom Akane ran towards Nagito, who calmly walked until she reached him, and he crouched down, holding his linked fingers low so she could step on them and he could launch her up to the last trapeze. She grabbed it and flipped around it, finalizing on sitting on it like a swing and waving the audience.

Everyone stood up and cheered. Nagito bowed and then held out his arms once more. Akane jumped and fell into them. She hopped out and linked arms with her partner and blew kisses at the audience as they walked out.

Izuru once again walked to the center, snapping his fingers to reveal a spotlight on a huge spherical cage. "I'm sure you all are familiar with the Cage of Death? I want to introduce our cyclists, Mondo Ooawda!"

A motorcycle revved up, lights going down a runway revealing a man with an absolutely ridiculous hairstyle and the confident smirk of a criminal. He revved the motorcycle again just to draw a reaction out of the audience and then sped up towards the open cage. Izuru slammed it closed and Mondo began rolling around it, seemingly effortlessly.

Then a different person came out. A girl with... were those horns?! She was the girl that was playing the guitar in the beginning. She smiled and slammed her pic down on the guitar, causing flames to burst out of not only the ground but into the cage as well, Mondo effortlessly dodging them in addition to spinning around the thing like a madman.

"HEYO! The name's Ibuki Mioda and I'll be your musician for the night!" the girl shouted, sticking another chord, causing more flames to come out. The level of skill was immeasurable. 

Ibuki hollered and started strumming on her guitar, flames seeping out at every note. The song seemed to be some kind of heavy metal, the girl shouting lyrics that were nearly incomprehensible. Mondo simply laughed from the cage, it was a wonder that corn husk of a hairstyle didn't burn off. People were biting their nails in anticipation.

Then, all of a sudden, Ibuki stopped, looking up and breathing heavily, a winning smile on her face. Mondo slowly came to a stop and opened the door of the cage. People cheered for them, breathing out a sigh of relief. Izuru came over and high five both of them as they headed off.

"Alright, our next and second-to-last act is-"

A loud trumpet cut him off, an Elephant storming onto the stage, stopping right in front of Izuru. "Deepest apologies, my friend. Ellie here got a little... how do you say? Excited."

The elephant tooted again, seemingly ecstatic. Izuru only smiled and reached up to pet her trunk. The man on top of the elephant cleared his throat. "Fair mortals! Listen here! For my name is Gundham Tanaka, the forbidden one! And I present my accomplice, the dark princess herself, Sonia Nevermind!"

The girl with him earlier came out, in a different, much lighter-looking green dress this time. She was followed by three lionesses, all walking protectively around her. People's jaws dropped at her ability to stand with such fearsome creatures as though she was one of their own. 

Sonia stopped next to the elephant and waved to everyone, it was then Fuyuhiko realized she was holding large metal hoops behind her back. Gundham slid down the elephant's trunk as though it was a slide and grabbed the Princess's hand before kissing it. "Now, my darling Princess of the darkness, shall we give these fine mortals the show of their lifetime?"

"Oh, let's!" she said excitedly.

Gundham clapped his hands loudly and the elephant trumpeted, standing up on its hind legs while the lionesses roared next to it. A flash of colours ran past the audience, and it took them a few seconds to register that they were multi-coloured zebras. They circled around the elephant, bowing in front of her. She huffed and fell back down, people were awing in excitement. Gundham raised a hand up to them. "Children of the surface world, I invite you to come down here and see the animals. Many of them are quite fond of young ones."

And just like that set off a switch, a dozen or so children ran down the bleachers to try and pet the animals. Sonia and Gundham assisted in putting them on the backs of one of the zebras and making sure none of them stuck their hands in a lioness's mouth. The children certainly seemed to be having a good time. Fuyuhiko smiled faintly. Maybe it was because each of them seemed to be so young, but the couple did indeed seem very good at working with kids.

The elephant practically purred as one of the children gently pet its trunk, seemingly nervous until Gundham guided her. This interaction didn't last for very long, and within five minutes all of the children ran back up to their parents and Sonia was waving her hand to signal the animals back to where they came from. Gundham gave a dramatic bow and disappeared, along with the elephant, in a puff of smoke.

Izuru returned to the center and smiled, twirling his stick and resting it over his shoulder. "Now, ladies and gentlemen and all those in between, we have one more act for the night."

The crowd "awwww" ed in disappointment. Izuru chuckled. "Don't worry! I'm certain you will enjoy this last act, as it's the most magic of them all!"

Someone snorted from behind him. "Magic doesn't exist, silly."

The short girl with the cannon from before stepped out, a short stubby boy waddling next to her, quite possibly the one she shot off earlier, though how he got back so quickly was anybody’s guess. Sparkly, multicoloured smoke billowed from her large, delicate pipe as she smiled childishly around it. "But I'd have to say, fireworks can be pretty cool!"

She snapped her fingers and the tent made a whoosh sound, completely lifting off and falling around them. People gasped from the sight of the starry night sky. The girl simply laughed. "My name is Hiyoko Saionji and this is my friend Teruteru Hanamura! And we're here to show you the time of your life!"

Teruteru snickered. "Darling Hiyoko, fireworks can only be spectacular for so long. After a while, the audience is gonna get bored."

"Yeah, well I'm getting bored of your face!" yelled Hiyoko, her enormous blonde pigtails bobbing up and down. “I think you’d look a lot prettier as a star!”

She pulled the giant hammer from seemingly out of nowhere and smacked her partner with it,  slamming him back into the cannon which the small girl had rolled in with her. She carefully aimed it into the night sky, a smirk on her lips as she whispered something down the cannon’s barrel before giving it a pat. She took the burning pipe out of her mouth and blew a series of smoke rings out in front of the cannon before dramatically lowering the lit end down to the fuse, causing it to ignite. 

As the sparkling fuse slowly burned down, Hiyoko began a dance around the cannon, setting off small fireworks with her pipe as she did so. After making a few circles around the cannon, the fuse had nearly reached the cannon, and Hiyoko stopped in front of it before striking a cutesy pose and dramatically plugging her ears just as the cannon finally went off in an even bigger explosion than before, blasting Teruteru out like a comet far off into the night sky, the audience watching in awe as they saw him disappear with a twinkle like another star in the sky. Hiyoko pulled her fingers out of her ears and gave the night sky a cutesy wave, calling out “Shoot for the moon, Teruteru!” while laughing along with the audience. "Don't worry, he'll be back! Unfortunately, I have yet to drive him off for good! I’ll be sure to blast him even farther next time!"

Another girl stepped onto the center stage, someone Fuyuhiko hadn't seen before. A girl with red hair and a large camera hanging around her neck, a small white cigarette hanging out of her mouth, which she lit with the flick of a lighter. "Hiyoko, did you seriously launch Teruteru into the sky again?"

Hiyoko giggled, almost childishly. "Mayyyyybe..." she replied, still snickering.

The redhead shook her head. "Jeez, you're impossible sometimes, you know that right?"

Hiyoko shrugged, then raised a hand to the audience, the smile crossing her face could only be described as one thing, adorable. "Alrighty! Who's ready to get this show on the road?!"

The audience cheered. The redhead rolled her eyes,  taking the cigarette out of her mouth and swiping the burning tip under the firework, lighting the fuse on the large firework on Hiyoko's back before putting the cigarette back in her mouth.  Hiyoko yelped as the firework she was tied to went off,  blasting her far off into the night sky, yelling curses and threats all the way before  spectacularly exploding into in a dazzle of sparkles and lights of all colours, creating images of Hiyoko's face with a wink and her tongue sticking out, pipe still present even in firework form as the firework image of Hiyoko blew a firework smoke ring. Mahiru took her camera and snapped a picture of the fireworks show, a proud smile on her face as her cigarette hung from her lips.

Many people in the crowd cheered, and even Fuyuhiko was impressed. That couldn't have been easy to put together. Whoever their inventor was, they had to be practically a genius. 

Mahiru held her arms out and Hiyoko screamed as she fell down from the skies like a shooting star, falling into Mahiru's open arms, all charred and covered in soot.

Hiyoko shot the redhead an annoyed look, then sighed dramatically. "Mahiruuuuuuu! You just ruined the final presentation!"

Mahiru only shrugged, exhaling smoke out of her nostrils. "Well, you shouldn't have blasted Teruteru into the distance." but then she smiled. "But I'm sure you can use your adorable charm in order to entrap the audience with the rest of your fireworks."

Hiyoko beamed and wiggled out of Mahiru’s arms. "You're right! I am quite adorable if I do say so myself!" she once again smiled at the audience. "You ready to see more?"

Of course, the audience was more than ready.

Hiyoko raised her hands and fireworks all shot up simultaneously from around the area of the circus, shooting up into the sky in bright and beautiful colours. Everyone was enraptured. Some of the fireworks split off, making delicate flowers that resembled the ones on Hiyoko's kimono. Some even looked like little fans dancing in the night sky. All of it looked absolutely incredible. One could simply watch this forever and never tire of it.

The petite girl giggled and struck a kind of cutesy pose, gesturing for her friend to do the same.

Fuyuhiko's mouth was slightly parted, the final part of it shooting up fireworks in different colours spelling out the words Hope's Peak Circus. Natsumi smiled at him. "Not so idiotic, now was it?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh, buddy, this was a ride
> 
> Wow, this turned out a lot better than I could've expected it to. It's the first fic I've had a beta reader go through and honestly I think it turned out amazing.
> 
> Music used during the chapter: The Greatest Show - Panic! at the Disco, originally performed by Hugh Jackman.


	2. The Party Isn't Over Until The Lights Go Out

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> **Trigger warning:** A LOT OF SMOKING. And drinking. This takes place in the 1950-60s ish and back then literally everyone smoked. No, for a lot of them it's not healthy. However... it does add to a lot of their character. Also, because of their time, there are some sexist, racist, and homophobic comments made. None of those things are reflective of my own feelings, promise.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So um... yeah the first chapter was so frickin long because I had to fit everything in but this one will be a bit shorter I promise.
> 
> This one I actually had almost full creative liberty on which is fun. :)

"Ya almost done, Mahiru?"

"Yes, nearly. Sit still, will ya?"

Hiyoko sank nose deep into the cold soapy water, humming so more bubbles appeared on the surface, rainbow-tinted bubbles coming out from her detailed pipe barely peeking out from the surface of the water. The entire water was coated in similarly colourful bubbles that gleamed in the well-lit room. Hiyoko pulled her knees up to her chest as Mahiru massaged her head with soap. "I wanna get out and start drinking."

Mahiru hummed, burning cigarette still dangling from her mouth. "I know, but you are not going to go out there all covered in soot, that's not good for your health to get covered in it so often."

Hiyoko's head was suddenly drenched with warm water, a nice change from the cold water Hiyoko had been sitting in for nearly ten minutes. "It's not my fault that I keep getting blown up all the time," she remarked, sending a few more bubbles shooting out of her pipe. "I blame Teruteru."

"Maybe you shouldn't have so many fireworks strapped to your outfit," Mahiru suggested, knowing full well that was never going to happen in a million years. "Plus, it’s not exactly safe to have a pipe like yours lit all the time near so many explosives, constantly shooting out sparks. You’re gonna blow the whole circus up one of these days."

Hiyoko looked up at the glowing cigarette that was dangling from Mahiru’s lips like usual. "Pot calling the kettle black much?"

Mahiru considered this for a moment. "Touche," she replied.

Then the lit cigarette hanging from the redhead's mouth fell down into the end of the dancer's pipe, reigniting it in a miniature explosion of rainbow sparks. Mahiru sighed and pulled out another one, lighting it quickly before returning to the task at hand. 

“Besides,” said Hiyoko, colorful smoke now emanating from her pipe. “This pipe is a treasured family heirloom passed down through my family for generations for hundreds of years, all dating back to a beautiful Princess of Japan who had mastery over fireworks. She was my great, great, great, great…”

Mahiru nodded along as she listened to Hiyoko once again tell the long, rich history of her beloved pipe (even though she was fairly certain it was something Hiyoko had custom made herself). She had nearly gotten to the end of the story (which would likely be followed by the similarly detailed history of her beloved cannon, or her beloved mallet) before Mahiru reminded her that she was finished bathing.

Mahiru dragged Hiyoko to sit upright and began brushing her hair out, tying it up into two large pigtails before helping the small girl out of the bug tub. She took out a fresh, pink kimono and started helping her put it on, taking extra care with attaching the fireworks considering the two sources of fire on their persons.

The fireworks girl was way too excited and nearly jumping, having the kimono ties almost come undone. Mahiru wasn't even finished putting it on her when she ran out, bursting through the door with bubbles still in her hair.

"Sup, whores!" she said.

The room cheered at her announcement. Ibuki chucked an entire bottle of whiskey at her. Hiyoko caught it effortlessly and screwed off the cap before tilting her head back and downing two-thirds of the bottle in one go, most of the room cheering her on.

Hiyoko snorted, cheeks already an adorable shade of red from the alcohol, her hacking laughter only adding a larger variety of colours to the fog of smoke in the room, falling down on the couch and leaning on Teruteru. "You shoulda seen the guy's face when Peko beat him, prolly wasn't expectin' a girl to absolutely wreck him in that!"

Peko crossed her arms, adjusting her glasses  and blowing smoke from the side of her mouth, fat cigar still hanging from her lips, giving one the impression that it never left her mouth . "I'll have to admit, he wasn't half bad," she replied.

"Eh?" Akane spoke, cigarette falling out of her mouth. "As if anyone in that audience could beat someone like you! Yer fucking incredible!"

Peko smiled and nodded once towards Akane. "I do believe they enjoyed yours and Nagito's acts the best, however." 

Nagito coughed, still not 100% used to the strong nicotine and the smoke. "They usually like acts like that, they're usually the most popular. That and the animals," he said, looking over at Gundham, who was sitting on one of the couches, one of the lionesses across his and Sonia's lap like a huge cat.

The entire circus was sitting in a kind of waiting room, smoking and drinking and just generally having a good time after the exhaustion of the show. Hajime walked in through the flap leading in, Chiaki with her clipboard directly next to him. He clapped his hands together. "You guys did amazing as always! And we nearly had a full house tonight! I call that a win!"

Nagito flung his cigarette at Hajime, who caught it between his two gloved fingers with ease and took a drag from it. He smiled. "If you guys can keep this up for the rest of the week then I'm certain we'll be set until we reach the next destination."

Everyone cheered, raising their glasses in a toast. Hyioko chucked the empty bottle behind her and grabbed a bottle of sparkling wine which she immediately began gulping down as well. Peko, meanwhile, took a small, unopened bottle of alcohol, and simply dropped it into her own mouth, swallowing the entire bottle whole with an audible gulp, eliciting some applause. 

Chiaki looked up at Hajime. "We'd have to have the same amount of people or more every single night this week to get the amount we'd need, even then just barely. We've already advertised the hell out of this, here's to hoping."

Ibuki let out a loud laugh. "Chiaki, I thought you've figured out by now, hoping is what we do best!" she exclaimed, downing her entire glass of wine with a loud gulp, Nekomaru cheering her on.

Hajime twirled the cigarette around his fingers. They absolutely had to make this, otherwise, there was no way they'd be able to stay together. He loved this troupe more than anything, and he wasn't keen on losing it anytime soon.

Then someone fell through the door flap, landing on his face, causing the room to go silent. He looked up and around, crinkling his nose at the scent of heavy smoke. Peko blinked. "It's you," she noted.

Another person poked her head in, smiling. "Hey! Sorry about my brother, he's kinda clumsy!" she snickered.

"You pushed me you little shit!" the guy on the floor stood up and brushed himself off.

The girl walked in and waved. "Hello! My name is Natsumi Kuzuryu and this is my brother Fuyuhiko! We wanted a chance to talk to some of you if that's alright?"

Fuyuhiko crossed his arms and made eye contact with Peko, who swore she saw his cheeks dust pink. Hajime smiled and held out his hand. "Ah, the famous Kuzuryu family, thank you so much for coming to our show."

Natsumi grabbed his hand and started shaking it furiously. "Mr Kamukura, you and everyone else were actually amazing! But how did you do the red eye thing? It looks sooooo cool!" 

Hajime smiled. "Hey, Izuru Kamukura isn't my real name. It's a stage name I use. My real name is Hajime Hinata." he replied. "As for my eye... I was actually part of human experimentation that wanted to make a superhuman that possessed every single skill and talent known to man," he said very seriously.

Natsumi was in awe. Fuyuhiko rolled his eyes. Hajime laughed. "I'm kidding. I was just born with it. Nothing else to it, really."

The girl puffed out her cheeks in annoyance. "Well that ain't very fun," she said, then she poked her head and ran over to the acrobats. "But you guys were actually incredible! It still amazes me that they would let a brown girl learn those kinds of tricks!"

Nagito put a hand over his mouth in shock. Akane looked like she was ready to clock this girl. "I'm sorry, what?" she asked. "Are you saying that because of my skin colour I'm not a good acrobat?"

"Well, yeah."

"Okay, you've just signed your death warrant!" Akane spoke, standing up and cracking her knuckles.

Fuyuhiko pulled his sister away before she could get a bloody nose. "Hey! You can't say those things!" he hissed at her. "I'm sorry, my sister can get out of line sometimes."

Akane grumbled until Nagito pulled her back onto the couch. Natsumi cocked her head. "And you two are dating, right?"

Nagito and Akane looked at each other, then burst out laughing. Fuyuhiko and Natsumi both raised an eyebrow. Akane wiped away a tear and shook her head. "Nah! He's gay and my trapeze partner! Would be waaaaaay too awkward if we were dating!"

Fuyuhiko blinked. Natsumi scrunched up her nose. "Oh, I was wondering why a guy would be in acrobatics in the first place. Makes sense that you're a queer. That's not very manly, y'know."

Nagito frowned. "Yeah, fucking whatever. Doesn't matter. I like doing it and that's really what matters to me." he replied. "By the way, who I sleep with really isn't your business, but another comment like that and I'll be fucking your brother into next week." he winked with a smile.

Fuyuhiko's face absolutely burned. Natsumi looked next to horrified, jaw nearly hitting the ground. Akane cackled and slapped Nagito on the shoulder. "That's my acrobatics partner!"

Natsumi seemed to have composed herself because she scowled and crossed her arms. "Whatever. You all may be fantastic on stage, but take off the spotlight and you get a bunch of freaks."

Hiyoko spat. Looking up at the blonde girl with a newfound rage. "I'm sorry? You wanna call us all freaks?" she asked, standing up and walking over to the younger girl, pointing a finger in her face. "Talk like that would get you into those fancy-schmancy parties of rich people, but only those who fucking dare to be themselves get the glory that no other man, woman, or anyone else in between could ever hope to achieve."

"Who even gave a girlie like you the right to operate fireworks, aren't those a little dangerous for a little girl to handle?" Natsumi smirked.

Hiyoko's eyes twitched. "Oh, honey it's on..."

Peko tapped Fuyuhiko on the shoulder. He looked over at her. "They're going to be at it for a while, mind talking a walk with me?" she asked, extending her hand.

Fuyuhiko stared at the swords girl's hand before taking it gingerly. She led him out a tent flap while the cast members started taking bets on which of the girls would win, Hajime not even trying to break it up, simply sitting down next to Komaeda and talking to Chiaki, occasionally taking drags from his cigarette or taking a shot or two.

The two walked outside, the only things illuminating them were the moon and stars, the faint light from the circus, and Peko’s massive cigar. They stepped onto a trail, Peko's boots clicking against each other. She pulled out one of her swords and inspected it. "You're different," she noted.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Fuyuhiko asked.

Peko shrugged. There was a huge log on the path, cutting off their passage through the woods. Instead of walking around or over it, Peko brought her sword down and cut a chunk out of it, freeing the path before taking the chunk and kicking it back into the forest a couple of meters. She held her cigar tightly in her lips.

"I mean you don't really seem like you fit in, especially if you're expected to be anything like your sister."

Fuyuhiko was at a loss for words. He grumbled and kicked at the dirt. "I guess. My family is all fancy parties and looking good in front of others, they aren't really giving me a choice on what I want to do. Frankly, with the way they want to run our... company... Natsumi would be a better head. But, of course..." he made air quotes with his fingers "'Women can't be the head of the family'. They say that every time we bring it up. Natsumi hates it. She’s just expected to suck it up and marry one of our cousins to keep the bloodline pure when I don't even want to be in the family."

The girl walked up to another, quite large tree and sliced it with a single swing of her sword, the tree falling down and just leaving the stump, to which Peko simply sat down on. Fuyuhiko sat down next to her. They looked at the stars for a bit, the starlight gleaming off of her glasses. They tried to ignore the occasional distant noises coming from the circus, most of which being explosions and cries of “I’ll send you to the moon!” among other threats.

The swordswoman crossed her legs and leaned on her hands. "Many of us have worked our entire lives to be where we are now. People like Mondo, Akane, Ibuki, even myself, we've trained for years to hone a useless skill. People like Komaeda are naturally lucky, not to mention his god-like flexibility. Hiyoko and Teruteru were found together, each expressed an impossible passion, Gundham takes the blame for kidnapping our Princess, but in reality, she simply went with him so she could learn about animals. None of us would ever be considered normal."

Peko held onto her cigar gently, not taking it out of her mouth as she spoke. "Many people accuse us of being insane. I guess we are in a way. After all, I swallow swords whole, I do tricks with actual dynamite, I'm even the backup cannonball if Teruteru is unavailable. But all we want to do is stay together, our little bundle of misfits."

Fuyuhiko was rendered speechless. Peko's crimson eyes trained on the ground.

"Do you ever feel like an outcast? Like you don't fit into the status quo?" she asked, glowing ashes falling from her cigar.

"Yeah, way too often, actually." Fuyuhiko agreed.

Peko locked eyes with the small boy. "A lot of us felt that way as well. We were considered freaks by society for whatever reasoning. Akane couldn't find decent work in the field she wanted to because of her skin colour. Komaeda was caught sleeping with a man and is now denied a lot of the healthcare he desperately needs. Ibuki's musical talents were never acknowledged because she's a woman and 'women shouldn't be playing vulgar music like that'. Teruteru was often looked down on for his unusual appearance. Hiyoko wanted to work with fireworks, nobody would take a young-looking girl like her seriously. Etcetera etcetera."

Fuyuhiko reached up to her face, taking the large cigar out of her mouth and putting it in his own, to which Peko briefly reacted with mild surprise but quickly regained her usual stoic expression. "And you?" he asked. "Why are you an outcast?"

Peko sighed. "I'm deadly. Not to mention many don't consider me to be able to think for myself. I'm loyal to the grave, but nobody wants a woman who's stronger than them to cling to them like a leech."

Silence. Fuyuhiko sighed, blowing smoke from the girl's cigar. "You aren't a leech. And all of you... you're incredible! Everything that I saw out there, no normal person could do that! So maybe..." he took a breath, he really wasn't good at these things. "Maybe it's a good thing you guys don't fit into society like you want to."

Peko raised an eyebrow. Fuyuhiko bit his lip and rubbed his forehead. "God, that sounded so cheesy. That's not... you guys are special, you have a kind of talent others only could dream to have. And you use it in such incredible ways!"

Silence, then Peko smiled. "You sound like Hajime. That's what he said to us when he started the circus." she looked up at the stars. "We used to have two ringmasters, y'know? Izuru Kamukura and Hajime Hinata. Brothers, twins in fact. Izuru was incredible, could walk right up there with the acrobats, could ride through the cage of death with Mondo, could sit in a tiger's mouth and play poker with the world's best gambler."

She clenched her fists. "He... he disappeared one day. We still don't know where he went. Many of us believe he's dead. Hajime adopted his name and kept the circus going. To stop now... it would almost be like a disgrace to his name."

Fuyuhiko smiled awkwardly. "That's a big legacy to live up to."

"We're willing to take any risk for our ringmaster," Peko replied sharply. "And that includes making sure we never, ever, split up."

She took her cigar back and popped it into her mouth, marching back to the tent. Fuyuhiko couldn't do anything else but follow her close behind. They found their way back to the tent to see  Natsumi having been shoved into the cannon, Hiyoko smiling menacingly as she held the fuse up to the sparkling pipe in her mouth. Hiyoko locked eyes with Peko and gasped, forgetting about the cannon and running over to the swords girl, pipe nearly dropping out of her mouth.

"Where the flippity-fuck did you go?" she asked. Then she looked over at Fuyuhiko, eyes filling with realization as she snickered. "Ooooh~! I see. Getting lucky, were we now?"

Peko rolled her eyes and Fuyuhiko tipped his hat down to hide his blush. "You've been spending too much time with Teruteru, with a dirty mind like that," Mahiru commented, resting her elbow on the head of the small girl. 

Hiyoko giggled, clearly more than a little drunk. "Not my fault!" she defended herself.

Mahiru raised an eyebrow and took one of the fireworks off of Hiyoko's elaborate outfit, twirling it between her fingers. "You really are something, aren't you?"

She lit the fuse with her cigarette and handed it back to Hiyoko, to which it promptly exploded, blowing up in the petite girl's face, causing even more soot to stain her features. 

"MAHIRUUUUUUUU!" she yelled and threw the empty firework stick at the redhead. Mahiru laughed and Hiyoko grabbed her mallet before chasing her around.

Peko simply shook her head. Hiyoko skidded to a stop in front of her, snickering. "Peeeeeeeeeeekooooooo!" she shrieked and launched herself onto the girl, grabbing her in a tight hug. "Is it true what they say? That smaller guys make up for their height down there?"

Fuyuhiko slapped his hands over his face. Was he above hitting a girl? Well, no. But he sure as hell had the strongest willpower known to man. Peko deadpanned and sighed. Mahiru took this opportunity to sneak up behind Hiyoko and light the huge firework on her back. Hiyoko squeaked and ran around, trying to reach it but she couldn't. Peko sighed and cleanly cut the lit fuse before it reached the end. Hiyoko breathed a sigh of relief. Then a coy smile returned to her face.

"So I'm right then?"

Peko narrowed her eyes ever so slightly before nonchalantly removing the cigar from her mouth and holding it to the firework’s fuse, relighting it before returning the cigar to her lips. Hiyoko’s eyes widened at the sparkling fuse getting ever closer to the firework, before simply letting out a groan and turning to Peko with a grumpy pout. 

"I fucking hate you," she said with a huff, crossing her arms.

"No, you don't."

"That's fair."

Peko casually took a step back as the fireworks girl blasted off for the second time that night, leaving a hole in the roof before once again exploding into a spectacular firework just like the circus’ grand finale. The night sky lit up with a firework image of Hiyoko striking a cute pose, the pipe still hanging from her lips shooting out fireworks of its own."

Mahiru let out a sigh (after of course making sure to snap a picture of the fireworks) and put her hand to her face. “And I just got her cleaned up,” she lamented. “We’d better go get her, it’s almost bedtime.”

Mahiru walked off in the direction Hiyoko had rocketed off to. Hajime stood up and walked over to Fuyuhiko. "I hate to cut this short but we're getting ready to go to sleep before tomorrow's show. But I do want to thank you for coming."

Someone pulled Natsumi out of the cannon, a new face with pink hair and sharp teeth, and led her back over to her brother. She hid behind him and the tent around them simply folded in on itself and some of the cast started filling out. Mahiru had returned already carrying a sleeping, soot-covered Hiyoko on her back (people at this circus seemed to come back remarkably quickly after getting blasted into the sky). Fuyuhiko nodded and smiled, sticking out his hand for Hajime to shake. "It was a pleasure getting to interact with you all, thank you so much for giving us an amazing show."

Hajime smiled. "You're very welcome. Can I hope to see you again soon?"

"Most likely."

Nagito leaned over Hajime's shoulder and smiled at Fuyuhiko. "By the way, the offer still stands, just name a time and place," he said, winking.

"Hey, fuck off!" Natsumi barked while Fuyuhiko covered his face with his hands, much too flustered for his own good.

Hajime pushed Nagito off of him. "C'mon, to bed with you."

Natsumi grabbed Fuyuhiko's wrist and started walking away. "Fucking freaks. C'mon, let's get out of here."

Fuyuhiko couldn't help but look back, seeing Peko talking to Ibuki, carefully unbraiding her hair until it hung down on her shoulders, smiling around the massive cigar in her mouth. The glowing cigar illuminated her features in the darkness.

Jesus, he was so in love with her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oops I lied HAHA


	3. From Now On

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> New characters, fun times.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So the last chapter was getting really long so I split it up, the next one will be up either tomorrow or the next day.

"Hajime."

Hajime looked up at Chiaki, who was standing in front of him with worried eyes. "Is something wrong?" he asked.

The girl shook her head. "Not particularly, but I thought it best to tell you..." she took a deep breath. "If we don't sell out these next two shows completely, we're not going to have the money to transport everyone to the next location."

Hajime was silent for a bit, then he stood up, taking the clipboard from Chiaki's hands and setting it on the bed behind him. "Hey, we'll find a way. We always do." he held out his hand. "For now, we can't worry about that."

Chiaki took his hand and Hajime pulled her into a dancing position. "You're always the one talking about how we have to make sure we keep the circus together," she noted as Hajime led her in a dance, nothing formal or fancy, just a fun little slide-step. "It's your entire life, after all."

Hajime chuckled. "No, this may have always been my dream, but it was Izuru's life," he replied, spinning her around. "He was the one who started it, to take action in getting it going. All I did was find you all to participate in this impossible dream. And now it's too late to back out, even if we don't make the money we need."

He held Chiaki at arm's length, linking their fingers together. "We've been through this once, we can get through it again," he assured her.

"Hajime..."

Hajime smiled. "I saw the sun begin to dim, and felt the winter blow cold." he started, pulling her close and wrapping her arms around her waist, lacing his fingers together over her back. "A man learns who is there for him when the glitter fades and the walls won't hold. 'Cause from then, rubble, one remains, can only be what's true."

Chiaki mirrored his smile and wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him into a hug. "If all was lost, there is more I gain."

"'Cause it led me back... to you..."

"Hajime, you don't have to keep living in your brother's image. You aren't him." Chiaki whispered in his ear. "You're you. And you're the best ringmaster any of us could hope for."

Hajime only hugged her tighter. He wanted to cry because he knew it was hopeless. He was going to lose the show, his friend... no, his family. He was going to lose everything. Everything but Chiaki, who had promised long ago would stay by his side, no matter what. "From now on... these eyes will not be blinded by the lights." he choked out. "From now on... What's waited till tomorrow starts tonight."

"Tonight?"

"Let this promise in me start..." Hajime said, separating from Chiaki just enough to look her in the eyes. "Like an anthem in my heart... From now on..."

Chiaki smiled. "From now on?"

Hajime twirled out of her grasp and walked in front of a mural of photos on his wall of various trips to places people could only dream to visit someday. Pictures of silly moments, pictures of hard times, pictures of light, darkness, sorrow, victory. All taken by Mahiru, but only Hajime could see the meaning behind each one. "I drank champagne with kings and queens, the politicians praised my name!" He looked over at the one picture he had of his brother, the two of them being pulled into a hug by Chiaki, smiles on everyone's faces except for his late brother. He took it off the wall, looking at it with a sad smile. "But those are someone else's dreams, the pitfalls of the man I became."

He turned back to Chiaki. "For years and years, I chased their cheers. The crazy speed of always needing more." he walked over and tilted Chiaki's jaw up towards him, her smiling face pure joy, even if her teary eyes betrayed her. "But when I stop and see you here, I remember who all this was for."

He grabbed her hand and led her out to the stage, no audience there, just the performers, practising, sitting around, doing whatever. Akane was leaning on Nagito to help him stretch, Ibuki was tuning her guitar, Gundham was feeding Ellie, Sonia was putting on makeup, Peko was sharpening her sword, and Hiyoko and Teruteru were having a conversation while Hiyoko sat in a barrel of gunpowder, sparkling pipe occasionally letting out little sparks, incredibly dangerous but she acted as though it was no big deal. All becoming startled at the sudden entry of Hajime and Chiaki. "And from now on! These eyes will not be blinded by the lights!" Hajime laughed.

Ibuki picked up what was happening and started strumming on her guitar. Hajime smiled at her. "From now on! What's waited till tomorrow starts tonight!"

Hiyoko gasped. "It starts tonight?!" she asked, eyes sparkling, full of excitement.

Hajime nodded. "And let this promise in me start, like an anthem in my heart! From now on... from now on!"

Ibuki strummed even harder on her guitar as some of the other performers started clapping their hands and stomping their feet. "And we will come back home! And we will come back home!" Ibuki started the chant. "Hooooooooome again!"

Others joined in with her. "And we will come back home! And we will come back home! Hoooooooooome again!"

Hajime released Chiaki and Nagito grabbed onto him, both of them spinning around wildly. "And we will come back home! And we will come back home! Hoooooooooome again!"

Nagito let go of him and Hajime fell into Peko, who smiled down at him then lifted him up as he ran forward and onto the trunk of their elephant, running up and kneeling to kiss the princess's hand before he fell off. Mahiru was the one to catch him and right him as he caught onto Mondo's bike and sat on the handlebars, laughing as they rode around the stage at inhuman speeds. "And we will come back home! And we will come back home! Hoooooooome again!"

He got flung off and Chiaki caught him this time, laughing and smiling as she held onto him. "Hajime, what on earth could you be talking about?"

Hajime only smiled. "This is my home, Chiaki. It's all of our home. And I'm not letting it go anytime soon. Not for Izuru's sake anymore. I'm doing this for all of you."

Chikai let out a proud smile and stood on her toes to kiss Hajime once on the mouth. 

"Aw, how touching!" Teruteru commented.

Hiyoko made a disgusted noise and bonked him on the head. "Do you ever shut up?!"

"WHAT DID I DO?!" Teruteru whined, crocodile tears falling down his face. 

Hajime laughed at their antics. He wasn't wrong, this entire circus was his family now. And he wouldn't let it go bankrupt, not now, not ever.

The flap of the tent opened and revealed three different people, one in a military uniform, another in a leather jacket and cuffed jeans, and a small one with a big bomber jacket dwarfing them. Mondo laughed and ran over, picking up the one in the military outfit and the bomber jacket and lifting them both on his shoulders. "Right, I've been meaning to introduce you all to my family!" he said, walking over to everyone. "Everyone, this is my beautiful husband Kiyotaka Ishimaru!"

Taka saluted to them all. "Please, call me Taka!" he said, voice strict and commanding.

"And this is our adopted son, Chihiro Fujisaki."

Chihiro gave all of them a little wave. "Hello!" they spoke, voice so quiet it was barely a whisper.

Akane peeked out from behind Hajime and pointed at the one in the leather jacket still standing at the tent flap. "And who's the scrawny one?" she asked.

The boy smiled and gave a little wave. Taka laughed and slid down from Mondo's hold. "That's our friend, Makoto Naegi. He wanted to come to see the circus acts in person," he explained. 

Nagito gasped loudly and ran over to Makoto, grasping his hands tightly. "I remember you! You were there out first night!" he said, stars in his eyes. "You were so cute!"

Makoto blushed really hard and looked away. "Uh, thank you I guess..." he mumbled. "You were really good up there too..."

Akane walked over and whispered in Nagito's ear. "Go get laid, but make sure you're still able to perform tonight or I'll make sure you can't reproduce even if you wanted to."

Nagito laughed and flashed her finger guns before pulling Makoto along with him. Makoto yelped and Mondo laughed at him. "Have fun!" Mondo yelled. Makoto shot him a look.

Hajime smiled. "Don't worry, most likely Nagito just wants some company from someone who shows even a bit of attraction towards him, that and someone to rant to. I hope your friend is the patient type."

Chihiro nodded, Mondo lifting them off of his shoulder. "Makoto is probably one of the most patient people we know, I'm sure he'll be fine."

"Regardless, it's nice to meet you all," Hajime said, shaking both Chihiro and Taka's hands.

Taka smiled and shook Hajime's hand a little more roughly than probably needed. "And it's very nice to meet you all as well! Mondo has only been part of the circus for a little while but he has told us he really feels at home here!"

Mondo lightly shoved his husband. "Hey, don't tell them that, it's not very manly, bro."

"Bro," Taka replied with a smile.

Mondo blushed, a sight very foreign to most of the circus cast, and looked down to hide it. "Shaddap..." he muttered.

Hajime laughed. "If you two would like I can get you VIP seats to our next shows, and you're more than welcome to join us for our little after-party."

Chihiro gasped. "Would you really let us?" they asked.

"Of course," Chiaki spoke for Hajime. "Any family of Mondo's is family of ours," she said with a cute smile, slipping her hand into Hajime's.

Taka bowed deeply for them. "Thank you very much for granting us such access to see your show! It makes us very happy that you see us as acquaintances as well!" he said, voice still loud and stern.

Hajime laughed. "Of course! Our show starts in a little over an hour, so you're welcome to stay with us and talk!"

It was really nice, having the family of one of their acts come and see the behind-the-scenes. Most of their families had rejected them for choosing this path, or for separate things and they needed a place to go and chose here. Hajime's parents died a long time ago and Izuru had raised him for most of his life, Hiyoko was separated from her father and forced to live with an abusive grandmother for most of her life, Nagito blames himself for his parents' death, Akane's parents could barely afford food for her family, Teruteru lost his mother to a mysterious illness just recently, the list goes on.

What mattered now, however, is that they were together, this was their family now. And even though Mondo was a new addition, he was still part of that family. And anyone he considered to be family was just as much their family as it was his.

Time passed, and eventually, it was time to get ready for the show. People started filing in, and before the show started Chiaki said she was happy to inform them that they had a full house this evening. Hajime breathed a sigh of relief. "We just have to keep it up until tomorrow," he said.

Chiaki smiled. "I believe we can do it."

Hajime took a deep breath and stepped on stage, getting ready to do his thing as he heard the other acts get into place. He took another deep breath and started the show. At first, everything was going smoothly, the audience was really into it and Hajime got back into his groove of singing and dancing along with the acts.

But then at the end of the opener, when everyone was standing around him, he looked into the audience and his smile was gone.

A flash of red eyes, a swish of black hair, a sparkle of a silver ring. Hajime thought he lost the audience there for a second, but he couldn't stop staring.

Izuru Kamukura and Celestia Lundenberg were standing at the entrance, watching their show.

He blinked and they were gone. What the hell? Was it some kind of mirage or something? He shook it off. Doesn't matter, he had to get through the show no matter what. However, he wasn't the only one who saw them, because before she went on Hiyoko pulled Hajime aside. "You said Zuzu was dead, why is he here?" she hissed.

Hajime shrugged. "I thought he was dead, but I don't know. I'm just wondering where he and that scam Celeste are doing here."

"Kazoo is searching the audience and every nook and cranny for them, just in case they try and ruin the show. I will not have that harlot make a fool of us!" Hiyoko scowled.

"Just act like nothing's wrong, we'll deal with it after the show, understood?"

Hiyoko gave him a salute. "Roger that, captain."

Hajime nodded and went back onto the stage with a fresh smile, but their presence was still in the back of his mind. Luckily, the rest of the show went off without much of a hitch, and soon enough the audience was leaving, excited chatter going through the crowd. Hajime basically shoved everyone into the other room, not even giving Hiyoko a chance to get cleaned up. 

"Did anyone else see who I think I saw?" he asked.

Taka and Chihiro looked at Mondo in confusion. The other just shook his head. Teruteru gasped dramatically. " _ Oh mon Dieu _ ! You can't possibly mean?!" he started. "Wait, who are we talking about?"

Hiyoko bopped him on the head with her mallet. "Izuru, dumbass! Izuru and Celestia!"

Something very fast and very sharp made its way towards Hajime, who caught it effortlessly between his fingers, but not before it scratched his cheek, grazing it and drawing blood. He examined what he’d just caught and saw that it was a playing card. There was a giggle from everywhere and nowhere at once. "Very good, Hajime. Although you're a bit rusty."

There was a puff of black smoke, blinding everyone and making them cough. Out of the smoke rose two people. One of which had long black hair and a black ringmaster's outfit. The other had her black hair curled carefully into drills, a huge witch's hat with a red ribbon tied to it resting on her head. She was wearing a black and white dress with a large bow in the front, sleeves fanning out, skirt flared around her knees, the underside seemingly made of cards, an incredibly long and elegant gothic cigarette holder with a lit cigarette hanging from the end trapped tightly between her teeth. The lit end of the cigarette sparkled mystically and emitted the same black smoke the two had appeared with. Both of them had black card symbols printed under one of their eyes.

Hajime stepped back, in shock from seeing them both. "Izuru? But I thought you were dead?"

Izuru shrugged. "Death isn't particularly appealing to me at the moment," he noted.

Celestia giggled and approached Hajime, taking the cigarette holder out of her mouth and twirling it so fast it created a small ring of fire, a little magic trick she used to do when she was bored. "I want to speak with you," she said, thick French accent coating her words like caramel on an apple. 

Someone threw a chair at her. Izuru spotted it and quickly ran towards her, breaking the chair into pieces within half a second. Celestia chuckled. "Aw, no need to be so violent." she mused, placing the cigarette holder back between her lips. Somebody else (almost certainly Hiyoko) threw a lit firecracker at her, to which Celeste nonchalantly removed her witch’s hat and caught the explosive in it, seemingly making it vanish from existence. 

She placed her hat back on her head and trained her gaze back onto Hajime. "Hajime, I simply wish to have a civil conversation with you."

"BITCH!" Akane shouted. "Betcha can't do even that without lying your ass off! You screwed us over last time, what makes you think we'll trust you now?! YOU AIN’T EVEN FUCKING FRENCH!"

Nagito did his best to try and restrain her. Celestia didn't even bat an eye, simply blowing a smoky diamond into the air. Hajime cleared his throat. "I'll hear you out."

Celestia smiled and placed her laced fingers under her chin. "Excellent. Now, it's a matter of both our shows. My magic show, and your circus. Both of us are going bankrupt. If we don't act now we'll both lose what we worked so hard to obtain."

"You want to combine our acts?" Chiaki asked.

"Yes. I understand it's a big step and you probably don't trust me. However..." she gestured to Izuru with her cigarette holder. "We come together, so you get me, and you get him back."

Hajime locked eyes with his brother. He's been missing for so long, just seeing him now was making his heart swell. He swallowed. "Okay, you've got yourself a deal."

"Hajime!" Chiaki grabbed his arm. "She's a liar and a cheat! You can't trust her!"

Of course, he knew that. Everyone knew of Celestia Lundenberg, famous so-called French magician who travelled all over Europe performing insane and frankly dangerous acts all for the money. Her magic was of a spectacular and dangerous sort, often involving huge displays of smoke and fire, as she used her iconic cigarette holder as her magic wand. She also knew a wide variety of card tricks, and would often be seen performing in casinos.

She was known around the world for her scams, ripping off people at every chance and sometimes even stealing right from people. She didn’t work in the entertainment field because of some life-long dream or even for the glory and thrill of it. She was a downright nasty golddigger that no one in the circus wanted to associate with.

But… she was working with the one person Hajime could never refuse.

"I have to," he whispered, looking back at Izuru, whose expression never wavered.

Celestia beamed, clapping her hands together. "Wonderful! If you don't mind I have an act planned for tomorrow's performance if you can fit me in!"

Hajime nodded once. "I think I can work something out."

"Marvelous." said Celestia, twirling a cigarette lighter in her fingers before flicking it on and bringing the flame to the cigarette at the end of her holder. Her cigarette was already lit, however, so this seemed to just be for dramatic effect. Furthermore, the lighter did look somewhat familiar to the other performers, which is about when Mahiru noticed her pocket was feeling light and let out a sigh.

There was an air of tension for the rest of the night. Luckily Celestia wasn't too keen on staying for the after-party, so she quickly left without another word. 

Of course, Hiyoko had something to say to her. “Get back here you harlot!” she squeaked. “I didn’t get my chance to throw you into the stratosphere!”

Celestia just sighed and tapped the end of her cigarette into Hiyoko’s pipe like it was an ashtray. “ _ Pourquoi le nain parle-t-il? _ ” she grumbled to herself.

“Don’t you start with that fancy European act!” yelled Hiyoko, sparks shooting out of her pipe even more rapidly than usual. “I know your real name is Ta-”

“Why, you’re quite the  _ pétard _ , are you not?” interrupted Celeste, smiling condescendingly at the smaller girl as she gave her a couple pats on the head, unusually hard pats at that, more like smacks. As Hiyoko rubbed her head, Celeste removed her witch’s hat and continued. “Just as explosive as ever. Quite cute coming from such a little girl. I suppose I would do best to communicate in a way you’d better understand.”

Celeste reached into her witch’s hat and pulled out the firecracker Hiyoko had thrown at her several minutes ago, not only was the fuse still lit, it was at the exact same length it was when she’d caught it. Before Hiyoko could react, Celeste slotted the firecracker into the end of the pipe in her mouth and stepped back, a devilish smirk on her face as she placed her hat back on her head. A series of sparkly explosions soon followed, and when the dust cleared Hiyoko was onced again covered in sparkly soot, as Celeste blew out a smoky heart.

Hiyoko absolutely fumed. Celestia simply looked back at her with a small smirk. Hiyoko launched herself at her, prepared to wreck the girl’s outfit at the very least, but Celestia was quick. She snapped her fingers and disappeared into a puff of smoke, leaving Hiyoko to fall flat on her face.

However, now the fuse on the massive firework on her back was lit. She shrieked and jumped up to try and put it out. Luckily Mahiru rushed over and was able to stamp it out before it was too late. Thank goodness.

“That damn Celestia! I’m gonna throw her into the sun!” Hiyoko shouted as Mahiru lifted her up in a hug to try and calm her down. Eventually she calmed down and wandered off with a pout, deciding to cheer herself up by finding some bugs to blow up. 

Izuru sighed and moved to leave as well but Hajime grabbed his wrist and smiled at him. "Stay, please. I haven't seen you in forever. I want to talk to you."

Izuru stared at him, the slightest amount of conflict in his eyes, before sighing and moving to interlock his fingers with Hajime's. "Okay. I'll stay."

Everyone cheered and raised their glass. Their ringmaster was back. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yayayayayayay.
> 
> I'm very excited for the last part, and I hope you all too. :)
> 
> Imagine... the last scene in Madagascar 3... with Firework playing in the background. Best cinematic scene of its time.


	4. Going Out With A Bang

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Last chapter! Final show and fireworks show! Get ready for all of your ships to be canon and for people to shoot out of canons! :D

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey so like this fic has really become a really big comfort and it's been so much fun for me to write so I really hope you enjoy it.
> 
> I don't really know what else to put here haha.

"I think we need a bit more... pizazz... in our last show. It will be the final one after all!" Teruteru suggested.

Hiyoko shrugged, lounging on top of a barrel of gunpowder, open ones surrounding her along with a mountain of fireworks and dynamite. She was supposed to be loading the cannon with the stuff and making more fireworks for their last show tonight but she was lazy and was just watching Teruteru do it while she ate candy and used her oversized mallet to squish a line of ants that were marching next to the gunpowder. 

The others were practising their acts, Mondo was working with Ibuki on a tune that would work with his routine, something upbeat and really rocking. Peko had already swallowed a sword (or was that two in her mouth?) and was making sure all the swords that would be lit on fire would properly work before the show. Nagito had somehow kidnapped Makoto and was twirling him around while Akane was shouting at him to continue stretching with her. Gundham and Sonia were working with the animals, going through the routine a few more times as they got ready. Mahiru was taking photos of the practising performers to use to promote the circus’ final show of the area. Hajime was teaching Izuru the new opening and re-teaching him the circus routine as if he probably didn't remember it perfectly.

And then there was Celestia. She was simply standing against the wall, shuffling a deck of cards, occasionally flicking one up, always the black queen of hearts. She was also twirling her cigarette holder (which served as her magic wand) and the small ring of fire hurt Hiyoko's eyes.

She grumbled and crossed her arms, huffing so smoke blew out of her mouth. Her iconic pipe was dangling from her lips like usual, and the sparks it constantly shot out were getting precariously close to the mountain of explosive material surrounding her. She opened her mouth to speak only to feel something bonk her on the head. Rubbing her head with a groan, she turned to see Mahiru standing next to her with her mallet in her hands, a stern expression on her face and the usual burning cigarette between her lips.

"You shouldn't be smoking near gunpowder! You could make the entire tent explode!" she scolded, setting the mallet back down.

Of course, she didn't bother to take her own cigarette out of her mouth while lecturing Hiyoko. Hypocrite. 

If that wasn’t bad enough, when Mahiru walked away she threw her used cigarette behind her, the butt just landing in Hiyoko’s pipe causing a tiny explosion (incredibly lucky considering she was still sitting in a bunch of gunpowder).

Hiyoko rolled her eyes. "What exactly were you thinking, Teruteru?" she asked.

Teruteru let a nasty grin take over his face. "I was thinking we get all the girls to dress up in skimpy outfits and do some sexy dances for the crowd! I just think that would be-!"

He stood dead in his tracks when Peko held a sword against his throat, glaring down at him. "I suggest you don't finish that sentence." she threatened, massive cigar dangling between her lips adding yet another fire hazard to the mountain of explosives.

Teruteru looked absolutely terrified. "Yes ma'am," he said in a squeaky voice.

Peko sheathed her sword and walked away. Hiyoko waited until she was just out of earshot before snickering to herself. “I bet Four-Eyes wouldn’t mind dressing up all skimpy for that fancy midget she ran off with the other night. That big-ass cigar’s gotta be giving her a lot of practice with man-pleasing, and if she can swallow a sword, she’d have no problem at all swallowing his-!”

Peko evidently wasn’t as out of earshot as Hiyoko assumed, as there was soon a stick of dynamite tossed Hiyoko’s way that landed right in her lap. Hiyoko suddenly realized just how much explosive power she was sitting atop, and let out a yelp. She closed her eyes, praying that she’d land in some nice country instead of the ocean or America, only to realize after a few seconds that she didn’t hear a deafening ka-boom. She opened her eyes and saw that the dynamite wasn’t actually lit. 

She groaned and put a hand to her face. “Fuckin’ nerd.” she sighed. She would’ve said something worse, but she had a feeling the next stick of dynamite tossed her way would be a lit one.

Hiyoko rolled her eyes at Teruteru’s chuckles and cleared her throat. "What we really need is something big, something colourful. Something to really grab the audience's attention. Something... spectacular."

All of a sudden a mischievous grin took over her face. "And I knew exactly what it should be."

The familiar click of a lighter nearby alerted Hiyoko to the presence of a certain chain-smoking photographer. Mahiru once again walked over to them, lighting another cigarette with a flick of her lighter, which she’d finally managed to get back from Celeste. “Oh, speaking of which, I’ve been getting different pictures of the other acts and I wanted to know if I can get yours.” she requested, holding up her camera.

Hiyoko beamed. “Yeah! Let’s do this!”

So for the next hour, they shot Teruteru out of the cannon multiple times, and each time, no matter what angle Mahiru stood at, she couldn’t quite get it right. Either the angle seemed a bit off, or she missed the cannon blast by the time the photo was taken. They also tried a few other shots, such as Hiyoko posting cutely on top of the cannon, or in the cannon’s barrel, or lighting the fuse of the cannon. At one point she was even able to convince Mahiru to climb inside the cannon herself to take a photo as a Point of View shot of what the human cannonball would see during the act. She  _ did _ have to promise she wouldn’t light the cannon while Mahiru was in it, like she’d done the last few times Mahiru had climbed into the cannon, but that temptation was only a little hard to fight.

Eventually, Mahiru’s camera was almost out of film so she decided to take one last photo of a cannon shot in action. She managed to find a spot for the perfect angle and stood there, viewing the shot through her camera. 

“Okay, Hiyoko!” she said with an enthusiastic smile, cigarette burning brightly in her mouth as she viewed the cannon through her camera lens. “I’m ready for the shot. Light her up!”

Hiyoko looked at where Mahiru was standing and realized, though Mahiru herself might not have noticed while she was looking through her camera’s lens, that she was standing directly in the cannon’s line of fire. Ordinarily, Hiyoko would have let her know this before firing, but Mahiru  _ did _ bonk her on the head earlier, so...

“With pleasure,” smirked Hiyoko, letting a malicious smile cross her face. She ignited the cannon with her burning pipe, covering her ears as the fuse burned down. Mahiru grinned as she prepared to take the photo, but her smile faltered as she realized where she was standing. Before she could get out of the way, the cannon exploded, sending Teruteru flying right into Mahiru. The impact caused them both to go flying into the distance. Hiyoko gave them a cutesy wave before snickering to herself and walking away.

Izuru was the one who caught them both, giving Hiyoko a look who only grinned sheepishly. “No time to be messing around, the show starts in a few hours, you all need to be ready.”

They all saluted and ran to the back in order to get on their outfits and for Sonia to do their makeup, for tonight was going to be the best night of the week.

As they walked back, Mahiru checked her camera, making sure it hadn’t gotten damaged. Her cigarette was no longer in her mouth, and she was now hiccuping smoke rings. “Alright, those were definitely some good shots, even if that last one was a bit riskier than I’d expected,” she said. She hiccupped another smoke ring and sighed. “Though I think I might’ve swallowed my cigarette,” she noted with an air of mild disgust. Continuing to hiccup, she took the spare cigarette she kept behind her ear and casually lit it off of the sparks coming from Hiyoko’s pipe before placing it between her lips, trying to ignore her rather peculiar case of the hiccups. “I guess I’d better learn to be more careful around heavy explosives myself.” 

Hiyoko once again snickered to herself. “Yeah, you’d better be more- YOUCH!”

Hiyoko was interrupted by the pain of her ear getting grabbed and tugged on. 

“That said,” said Mahiru, a stern expression on her face slightly undercut by her continuing to hiccup smoke rings. “Somebody  _ else _ needs to learn not to fire a  _ cannon _ at her fellow performers, or use them as  _ projectiles _ .”

She dragged a complaining Hiyoko by the ear to get dressed for the show, and after a few minutes, all of the other performers had wrapped up their practising and did the same.

After a quick dinner (handled largely by Teruteru, who was a surprisingly talented cook, with Peko, Mahiru, and Nekomaru also helping out), the performers got ready setting the circus up for the big final show that night.

Soon enough the sun was nearly setting and the audience was piling in. Fuyuhiko was back, sitting in the VIP seats and talking with Makoto, seemingly making introductions. Natsumi wasn't here, go figure.

Everyone was waiting, all jittery and excited, many of them had changed into different outfits and makeup that was very colourful and sparkly. Sonia had even managed to sneak some glitter onto Mondo's outfit.

Hajime held out his hand to Izuru and smiled. "Ready to go?" he asked.

Izuru took his hand and nodded. "I've always been ready to come back to this."

Hajime's smile only grew as the lights turned down, shocking the audience. Hajime and Izuru ran out to their places and the show began.

One of the things that most of the cast (even Ibuki) admired about the twins was their voices. And when they were in harmony they literally brought tears to people's eyes. They leaned forward as the spotlight turned on the two, illuminating the crimson and gold on Hajime's face and the black and gold on Izuru's.

"Ladies and gents, this is the moment you've waited for." Hajime started.

"You've been standing in the dark, sweat soaking through the floor." Izuru finished.

The two locked fingers and practically danced around each other, still singing the same lyrics as always. The raw emotion coming from their voices moved the audience in a way that truly captivated them.

The acrobats came into the light, red glitter on Akane's face and arms shining as she smiled at the audience. Nagito gave them a little wave, making the green on his face sparkle in the intense light.

Hajime laughed as Izuru lifted him up so he could stand on his shoulders. "So tell me do you wanna go?!"

The others lit up around them, throwing glitter and streamers at the audience, the sparkles on their faces practically lighting up the room by itself. Hiyoko couldn't contain the genuine smile of excitement as she stepped out, trading out her orange kimono for a pink one, delicate flowers practically dancing with every movement she made. Her outfit was lined with so many fireworks, ribbons, and other accessories it was a wonder, from the two rockets keeping her hair in pigtails to her huge, colourful mallet she kept tucked in her sash to the massive rocket on her back, this one seemingly even huger and more vibrantly designed than others of its kind. Her large, signature pipe, as ornately decorated as ever, hung from her lips, and it had been stuffed to capacity with a secret mix of ingredients (the recipe for which was allegedly invented by Hiyoko’s alleged princess ancestor and allegedly passed down for centuries) that made it constantly shoot out miniature fireworks, giving off the appearance that she was literally smoking an explosion.

She jumped up in pure joy when her part came on. "THIS IS THE GREATEST SHOW!"

She launched Teruteru into the air with a wink and a smile. She followed this up by climbing into the cannon and firing herself out with a cutesy pose.

Celestia gave Hiyoko her own smile as she moved on her small stage, risen up from the bigger stage, cards and fire moving around her in a way that could not have been just sleight of hand, the symbols of the cards seemingly floating off of the cards and printing onto the air as though they were painted on there, black and red glitter swirling around her features in a truly elegant way.

It seemed as though everything was illuminated in more than just the spotlights, everyone smiling and doing what they loved was what really made the show beautiful. The last show was always their favourite, for that was the night when all the stoppers were pulled, the night where everyone was truly allowed to show off their acts.

The lights went out, then turned on again with everyone in their signature pose, and Hiyoko was pretty sure she saw the faintest of smiles cross Izuru's features.

The show went on, of course, but it seemed as though everyone was truly more excited. They even changed up some aspects of it. But they were all having fun, and that's what counted.

Hiyoko sat backstage on the lip of her beloved cannon, eating candies as she blew huge, sparkly smoke rings into the air. 

Soon, Peko walked up to her, a huge cigar glowing brightly in her mouth like always with the lit tip noticeably sparkling this time and the smoke giving off the scent of cherry blossoms. Her hair was down rather than in braids like usual, and her outfit was more flowery and formal than it typically was. In addition to the usual sword she kept on a bag worn on her back, this time she also kept multiple other weapons sheathed on her back, weapons from a similar era such as a long spear-like weapon called a naginata, or a huge iron club called a kanabo. All of these elements, combined with the usual omnipresent elements such as the enormous cigar in her mouth or the glasses over her red eyes, gave her current appearance a look somewhere between “scholarly intellectual princess” and “walking armoury samurai maiden”. Somebody you would love to meet in a casual setting like a library or a festival but would dread encountering on a battlefield. 

Peko’s glasses gleamed dramatically, giving her a somewhat sinister look as she approached Hiyoko’s cannon. Hiyoko grinned and hopped out of the cannon’s lip and onto the ground, gesturing to the barrel for Peko to climb in and make her entrance onto the stage.

Peko regarded Hiyoko with her standard stoic expression, only for her lips to quirk up very slightly in what appeared to be a small smile as she removed her sword from its sheath and sliced the glowing ashes off of her cigar in such a way that they fell into the end of Hiyoko’s pipe and made the constant tiny fireworks it was shooting out sparkle even brighter. She returned the sword to its sheath and climbed down into the cannon’s barrel, a nonchalant expression on her face. 

Hiyoko grinned and peered down the cannon’s barrel. Due to the glow of the swords girl’s cigar, she could still see her at the bottom of the cannon, a calm, stoic expression on her face. Hiyoko gave her a wink and a thumbs-up before walking around to the back of the cannon. She lit the cannon’s fuse and plugged her ears.

With a bang, Peko was fired from backstage into the view of the audience, soaring gracefully through the air before landing on her feet in the center of the ring, taking a bow to the applauding audience. She noticed Fuyuhiko in the audience and regarded him with a brief, but warm smile before she drew each of her weapons and started juggling them.

She juggled her whole arsenal in an increasing flurry and even lit them on fire with her cigar. As the juggling grew increasingly rapid, an object flew from backstage in her direction, a recognizably huge and multicoloured mallet belonging to a certain childish cannon operator. The hammer twirled through the air, sailing across the stage and heading right for Peko. Peko simply tossed her other weapons into the air, gripped her kanabo with both hands like a baseball bat, and gave a mighty swing. 

The mallet was sent hurling out of the tent and into the great beyond, seemingly becoming another star in the cosmos. The audience cheered as Peko exhaled smoke from her nostrils, easing the grip on her club as she deftly caught her other weapons that fell back down from the air. She put each of them back in their respective sheath, but her act was only getting started.

Several other objects were thrown her way from backstage, evidently by her fellow performers. Fruit, furniture, random junk, pretty much everything they could find. No matter what was sent their way, she dispatched it before it could even land, whether she sliced in half with her sword, or speared it on the end of her naginata, or used her kanabo to either smash it to bits or smack it into the stratosphere. Some things she didn’t even use a weapon for, she simply caught them in her mouth and swallowed them whole with little effort, much to the audience’s amazement. Eventually, she was standing atop a huge pile of thoroughly destroyed objects. She placed her respective weapons back in their sheathes. 

Peko then reached into her outfit and pulled out a bundle of dynamite, holding the fuse up to her cigar and watching it sparkle. This time, she didn’t seem to be in any hurry to draw a weapon and slice the fuse off. The audience watched with bated breath as she let the dynamite’s fuse burn away agonizingly slowly, not bothering to even let it leave her hand. Just as it nearly burned away completely, Peko stepped off the pile and tossed the dynamite behind herself onto it. With a deafening explosion, a bright light filled the tent. When the smoke cleared, the pile of junk was reduced to a crater in the ground. 

The crowd went wild as Peko took a dignified bow, having concluded one of the most spectacular performances she ever pulled off. The dignity was slightly lost, however, when something fell from the sky and landed directly on her head, nearly bonking her lights out. That something being Hiyoko’s huge hammer, having apparently completed its trip through space. Peko blushed with embarrassment as the audience laughed but soon managed to compose herself and smile as she took another, quicker bow and walked off stage, taking the hammer with her.

Hiyoko had returned to her seat on the cannon’s lip backstage, giggling as Peko arrived. “Nice show out there, Four-Eyes,” she said with a smirk, though she did sound genuinely impressed by it. 

“Thank you,” said Peko, adjusting her glasses as a bit of glowing ash fell from the tip of her cigar.

“Course’, any act where shit gets blown up is a winner in my eyes,” said Hiyoko. Then she gave a knowing smirk, one that probably wasn’t the wisest to give to a girl who’d just demonstrated proficiency in several deadly weapons. “My favourite part of all was the ending, though. I guess that’s one more reason to call it the Mallet of Luck. No matter what, it always hits what it’s aiming for!”

Hiyoko let out another giggle, followed by a yelp as said mallet was hurled directly into her, knocking her down into the cannon’s barrel.

“Evidently,” said Peko, glasses gleaming mischievously as she walked off.

The show continued on, with each act being an even more spectacular version of its usual self. The performers were really going all out, as this may just be their last show. About halfway through the performance, a new performer made their debut to the circus, a certain witch.

In a puff of mystical black smoke, Celestia Ludenberg appeared, the cigarette holder that served as her magic wand dangling from her lips. She flashed a devilish grin, briefly removing her extravagant witch’s hat and taking a bow. She twirled her cigarette holder in her hand, once again causing a ring of fire from the speed, before tossing it into the air like a baton and catching it in her mouth. She snapped her fingers and an array of tiny fireballs flew out of the lit tip.

Celeste’s act was essentially a condensed version of her solo magic show. She performed various magical feats, from blowing massive clouds of smoke in the shapes of card suits to conjuring a huge ball of fire to seemingly vanishing from one side of the tent to another in just a puff of smoke. For one trick, she removed her hat and tapped on the brim with her magic wand, causing ravens to fly out of it only to dissipate into smoke within seconds. For another, she constructed an elaborate house of cards in seconds, only to light it on fire with the tip of her cigarette and watch it burn to ash before pulling an intact deck of cards out of her sleeve. Yet another trick involved her shuffling the deck of cards so fast that she managed to display all 52 cards to the audience simultaneously.

One trick had her call a volunteer from the audience (who ended up, coincidentally or not, being Makoto) and strapped him to a spinning board before tossing an entire deck’s worth of cards at him like they were throwing knives, all evidently being sharp enough to cut through the wood of the board. By some combination of talent and luck, they all missed him by less than an inch each.

For one of her last tricks, she reached into her hat and pulled out a series of animals, many of which she’d brought herself but a few of them were some of the smaller animals Gundham tamed. They ranged in size from a spider all the way to a full-grown snake. Finally, she reached into her hat and pulled out Hiyoko (who had evidently not agreed to be part of the magic act) by her pigtails, then sent flying offstage with a gust of smoke before she could protest too much. She placed the animals belonging to her back inside her hat, while the remaining ones walked offstage.

She truly was an amazing magician, one who never ceased to amaze the crowd. She was often called a witch, but she never minded as she both dressed the part and acted the part. People who watched her shows would often wonder whether she had superhuman sleight of hand or if she truly was magical. While she was a liar and a con artist in numerous aspects, her magic acts were clearly no fraud. When her final trick ended, she took a bow and vanished in another puff of smoke.

The show continued, with the remaining performers giving their all in their acts, and eventually, it was time for the grand finale. 

Finally, Hiyoko and Teruteru rolled onto the stage, Hiyoko's huge mallet dropping glitter with every step. Sparkly, glittery smoke was coming out of the large pipe in her mouth and filling the air as if she were a tiny, glittery freight train. 100 years from now they would find glitter in the dirt here and question what the actual fuck people were doing in this area to warrant that amount of sparkles.

"Hiyoko, Teruteru." Hajime nodded to each of them. "Welcome."

Hiyoko blew a raspberry. "As if you need to welcome us! We're the stars of the show, baby!" she cheered, earning a few whoops from the audience. "After all, who else could perform such a stunning act such as I. And Teruteru, I guess."

Hajime chuckled, Izuru was pretty much expressionless, but he motioned for the two to commence. Hiyoko smirked. "Say, I don't think the fireworks on my outfit are enough for tonight, nor do I think we'd have enough time to show off all of our dazzling explosions!"

Teruteru raised an eyebrow. "And whatever are you suggesting, dearest Hiyoko?"

Hiyoko bonked him on the head, causing a sizable lump to form on the top of his head that made the audience laugh. "You blockhead! I'm talking about a fireworks show!"

The audience gasped. Hiyoko smiled and put her hands up in a kitty-like pose. "Yup! That's right! Tonight at midnight we'll launch 1000 fireworks into the air! So bring all your friends and family then, because it'll be even better than some of the acts tonight!"

"You can't possibly mean that!" Teruteru exclaimed, but he knew Hiyoko was dead serious.

Hiyoko offered him a cheeky grin. "Of course I do! Now get in the cannon, you dummy!"

As if on cue, Teruteru hopped into the cannon and wiggled himself in. Hiyoko winked at the audience and sent him flying, using her pipe to light the cannon fuse once again. He soared through the flap in the tent and Hiyoko giggled to herself, pressing a button on the inside of her kimono to set off a bunch of mini fireworks around the stage. Hajime turned to her. "Not gonna launch yourself into the air tonight?" he asked.

Hiyoko waved him off. "Nah, I'd rather save that for the final show," she said with another wink.

Way too soon the show ended and people were upset because they had to leave, but already there were promises to come back for the final fireworks show, and once everyone was gone Hiyoko was working with Kazuichi to set it all up, tent deflating to make room for the show.

However, some audience members stayed behind.

Peko was taken off guard when someone hugged her from behind. She nearly flipped them over her head and flung them over the horizon before she realized it was Fuyuhiko, then she relaxed. "What are you still doing here?" she asked, the glow of the massive cigar in her mouth reflecting off of her glasses.

Fuyuhiko smiled at her. "You were incredible, all of you! I think this was your best show yet!"

Mondo laughed, already gulping back a mug of beer with Taka on his lap. "Nah, the one in Ireland... now THAT was a show!" he commented, throwing back his head to chug the golden liquid.

Ibuki shook her head. "No no no, I thought that one we did in France was our best one. And Hajime and Izuru singing French was sooooooo beautiful!"

Hajime blushed and smiled awkwardly, scratching at the back of his neck. "That was quite a hard language to learn if I'm being honest."

"It wasn't that hard..." Izuru spoke, crossing his arms.

Hajime deadpanned at him. "Yeah, thanks. Not all of us are perfect."

"I'm kidding."

"Your sense of humour is awful."

Peko smiled, but just barely, cigar shifting with her lips. She turned back to Fuyuhiko. "That doesn't answer my question, why are you still here?"

Fuyuhiko shifted from his right foot to his left a few times, clearly embarrassed. "I... I know you guys have been struggling for money recently, so I have a proposal for you." he started. "As you know, my family is loaded, so I have quite a big inheritance. If I cash it in now then that would be a couple million in your bank accounts so you could-"

"Woah Woah Woah." Hiyoko stepped onto the scene. "We don't need your pity money."

"That's not what I meant. I want to join you guys as your official sponsor for the show." Fuyuhiko said, locking eyes with Peko. "You've shown me a whole new world I've never thought I could be a part of, and now that I've gotten a taste of it, I never want to let it go."

Fuyuhiko grabbed Peko's hands and smiled at her. "Will you let me come with you?"

Peko seemed surprised. She blinked a few times, taken aback by the look on Fuyuhiko's face before her expression softened. "I have no qualms about it. Hajime?"

Hajime was nearly jumping in excitement. "Of course! I would love for you to join the show!" he said.

Izuru only shrugged. "If you've got the cash to keep us on our feet for a while then I really don't have a problem with it." he agreed.

Fuyuhiko breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank you so much." he mouthed to them.

Hiyoko abruptly clapped her hands. "Aight, hate to be the one to break up this sweet moment, however, we've got a fireworks show to organize, and it's not going to put itself together!"

For once, she really was the voice of reason here. So up until around 11 pm, everyone worked together to set everything up, moving the bleachers to face the area where the fireworks and cannons would go off. The first people to arrive were Makoto with Chihiro, the small boy clinging to their friend's arm. But they relaxed once they saw their dads. They ran towards them and then Nagito basically stole Makoto again, not that he really minded.

Soon enough, more people started coming, absolutely excited for the midnight show. As the time was slowly creeping closer, most of the cast had gathered in the spot that would be closest to the fireworks that was still safe for them to be. Mahiru had decided to take one big group photo before the fireworks, in the fairly likely event that one or more of them would end up blasted into the stratosphere during it.

Hiyoko walked in front of them, smiling while her pipe caught tightly between her lips. "Are you all ready for the best fireworks show of your life?!" she asked the audience and received an orchestra of cheers.

Celestia giggled from her seat, lounging regally on it like it was a throne in an elegant castle. “My my, I’m certainly excited to see what you have in store for us,” she spoke condescendingly, cigarette holder having been replaced after the show by a huge, pitch-black cigar between her lips. It had gothic designs printed on it, making it look incredibly fancy and incredibly expensive, and it was absolutely massive, even bigger than Peko’s. Ostensibly it was to celebrate the success of the last show, but it was probably mostly to give her an excuse to show off how fancy and elegant she is. She snapped her fingers in front of the tip and magically lit it in a blood-red ember before taking a long drag and smirking, the thick fog falling from her lips in an incredibly medieval-like way.

Hiyoko blew her a raspberry, clearly not caring about the magician’s opinion before smiling and looking at Peko, winking at her before quickly lighting the fuses of several fireworks and plugging her ears as they shot into the skies. The people oohed and awed at the sight.

Fuyuhiko leaned back on his hands, looking at Peko watching the fireworks with an easy smile on her face, cigar nearly falling out of her mouth. She really did look so beautiful. Fuyuhiko gulped. He looked around. Chiaki's head was on Hajime's shoulder as he lifted her chin up to kiss her, Mondo was kissing the life out of his husband, and even Nagito was making out with his new boyfriend. As he looked back at the audience members he realized that a lot of them were kissing as well as a kind of celebration for the fireworks going off. He supposed this was a romantic moment.

He turned his gaze back to Peko, who was hugging her knees to her chest, smoke billowing out of her mouth as she sighed blissfully. He gulped and put a hand on her shoulder. She turned to look at him, one eyebrow raised, asking a silent question. He took a deep breath as he reached up to touch her face. She smiled again and nuzzled against his hand. He was really blushing at this point. Fuyuhiko moved his other hand to take Peko's cigar out of her mouth and lean into to press their lips against each other. The moment they kissed a bright pink firework in the shape of a heart went off, as though it was capturing this moment forever. Peko seemed surprised at first but soon enough kissed him back.

Fuyuhiko pulled back and hid his face in his jacket. Peko took her cigar back and quickly took a drag before kissing Fuyuhiko on the temple. "You know, I'm glad you're joining us," she whispered.

Fuyuhiko smiled softly. "Thanks, I am as well," he replied.

Hiyoko hollered something at Peko, gesturing for her to come over. Peko stood up and walked over to Hiyoko and Teruteru. Hiyoko grinned. "Alright, get in the cannon, you two!" she announced.

Teruteru gasped dramatically. "You couldn't possibly mean both of us?!"

Hiyoko nodded. "Now get in there before I shove you in myself!"

So within a minute or so Peko and Teruteru were both squeezed into the cannon. Hiyoko peered down into the cannon’s barrel, the occupants once again visible from the glow of Peko’s cigar. They were crammed in there pretty tightly, but neither seemed to mind. In fact, Teruteru actually seemed to enjoy it. Hiyoko rolled her eyes but still gave them a wave and a smile before moving to the back of the cannon.

Hiyoko chuckled chaotically as she lit the fuse. "Might I say, I certainly don't mind being squished with such a beautiful woman," Teruteru snickered.

"Oh shut the fuck up and let her rip!" Hiyoko shouted, plugging her ears with her fingers as the cannon went off.

The two shot out, Peko taking out her sword and cutting a firework in midair, making it explode early right in front of her. They soared over the horizon, leaving behind a trail of smoke from Peko’s cigar, before vanishing with a twinkle together. Hiyoko gave them a wave and an adorable smile. “Enjoy your trip, you two!” she called out, only semi-sarcastically. 

Hiyoko snickered and turned to Celestia. She gave an even more adorable smile, but also a significantly eviler smile. Her eyes twinkled with sinister glee and she smiled as wide as she could as a tiny mushroom cloud of smoke rose from her pipe. It was the kind of smile that would normally be followed by an explosion visible from space. "Your turn~" 

With that, she grabbed the girl by the drills and practically flung her into the cannon. She half expected her hair extensions to come off from the force, but they didn’t. Guess they were real now.

As Hiyoko moved to light the fuse with a sinister smirk, Celestia sighed. " _ Comme c'est ennuyeux _ ," she spoke and snapped her fingers, making her and Hiyoko switch places last minute as she lit the canon fuse with her cigar. The cannon went off, shooting Hiyoko into the sky at the same time as more fireworks, cursing at Celestia along the way. Celeste waved to her as she soared off into the distance.

Eventually, the three cannonballs returned back. Teruteru’s face was all dirty from his fall and Hiyoko grumpily picked bugs out of her hair, and dropped them into her pipe, Peko walking directly behind them. She used her sword to cleanly cut the ash off of her cigar.

The grumble on Hiyoko’s expression was evident, and she immediately stormed over to the circus’ new magician. "You harlot!" she shook her small fist at Celestia. "You'll pay for this I swear!"

The magician said nothing, simply shuffling her cards and blowing smoke into Hiyoko's face.

Hiyoko scowled, but then stormed off, deciding to just continue the fireworks show and get back at her some other way. So, she continued setting off fireworks, shooting them into the sky and filling the night with all sorts of colourful explosions. Barely a second went by without some sort of pattern filled the air. The circus would be fresh out of explosives by the end at this rate.

By the time their fireworks supply was nearly depleted, Teruteru saddled up to Hiyoko, "There you are milady. I was very upset and distraught that you blasted me off like that. I demand an apology!"

Hiyoko rolled her eyes and pulled Teruteru into a headlock, ruffling his hair and making him screech like a little girlie. "Yeah yeah, I'm sorry aight. You happy?"

She let him go and he quickly got out his comb to fix his hair. "All is forgiven. But maybe you could give me something else as an apology as well?~" he winked.

Hiyoko deadpanned at him, then pulled her mallet out of absolutely nowhere and pulled it back dramatically. If one were to pay the closest, most precise attention possible, they’d notice Hiyoko giving him the tiniest, quickest, most minuscule kiss possible on his cheek, right before she smacked him into oblivion. Teruteru shot into the cosmos like a shooting star and became nothing more than another sparkle in the sky. Hiyoko giggled, she really loved doing that, and she knew Teruteru never really minded, he always came back after all. Mahiru even snapped a picture of it, mumbling something about a new record. Many of the other performers, such as Peko, Ibuki, and Chiaki, looked up and let out a whistle, shielding their eyes as if to hide them from the sun (even though it was nighttime, the twinkle must be pretty bright). "Well, there he goes again," mumbled Peko, the twinkle reflecting beautifully off of her glasses. “I think he might actually reach the moon this time.” Ibuki, meanwhile, recited a little song she wrote about this exact sort of event, while Chiaki merely looked at the twinkle he made and said “Cool.” 

Fuyuhiko looked up in bewilderment. “Uh… I’m guessing this is something that happens all the time then?”

“Yes,” all of the surrounding people said in unison, with varying levels of nonchalance, exasperation, and amusement.

Celeste had also seen the event and watched on with amusement, gargantuan cigar still between her lips. “ _ Et ainsi le cochon a atteint les étoiles. Tout cela grâce au tempérament explosif de la petite fille, _ ” she said to herself with a grin, which may have been some French nursery rhyme she learned or something she just made up out of nowhere. 

Celeste’s eyes snapped open as she soon noticed something peculiar about the cigar in her mouth. Something differently peculiar, that is, it was a very peculiar cigar already. The end of the cigar had started to glow brightly, and the end was starting to sparkle rapidly, and the whole cigar was expanded as glowing cracks started to form all over it, almost like it was about to-!

Celeste briefly glanced over to see Hiyoko, the same adorably evil smile from earlier, waving to her from a safe distance and plugging her ears.

That’s when Celeste’s cigar exploded in a gargantuan, brightly coloured fireball, blasting the gothic girl off into space like a comet. As she rocketed off into the sky, Celeste finally dropped her French accent and started yelling curses and threats in her true accent, swearing in rapid Japanese as the remaining audience watching applauded, not quite sure whether or not this was supposed to be part of the show. With one last cry of “I’LL MAKE YOU SORRY FOR THIS, YOU ROTTEN LITTLE BITCH!”, Celeste vanished into another sparkle in the night sky.

Hiyoko gave the twinkle a cutesy wave and a wink. “Bye-bye,  _ Taeko, _ ” she said in a sickeningly sweet tone.

“Well, I guess that’s one way to make a magician disappear,” said Mahiru, lit cigarette hanging from her lips as she looked from the night sky to Hiyoko with an accusatory expression. “I don’t suppose you had anything to do with this, did you?”

“Maybe,” said Hiyoko in an innocent tone. “Who knows, maybe there were some other fireworks experts nearby.”

“You know she’s going to turn you into a fly or something when she gets back, right?” said Mahiru.

“I’d still be a lot cuter than she is,” said Hiyoko with a snicker.

Mahiru rolled her eyes. “Anyway, it’s a good thing we have a sponsor now because this show’s depleted pretty much all of our explosives.”

“Not quite,” said Hiyoko, gesturing to the fireworks still on her outfit and especially the ones still on her back. She pulled Mahiru close and whispered in her ear, to which the redhead's eyes widened significantly. "You sure?" she asked.

"Positive," Hiyoko replied.

Mahiru nodded and lit the fuse on Hiyoko's firework on her back with her cigarette, the smaller wiggling in excitement. 

She took a step back as once again, the fireworks girl was rocketed off into the sky, but this time she was whooping and cheering instead of yelling curses and threats. She struck the most adorable pose she could muster before the firework shot so high into the sky that nobody could see it, whereupon it exploded into a true grand finale.

Of course, it was a firework image of Hiyoko herself with the pipe in her mouth shooting out fireworks of its own as all sorts of fireworks exploded around her. Eventually, the firework image of Hiyoko itself exploded spectacularly in a display that was so bright that night briefly turned into day. Hiyoko must’ve really gone all out on this firework.

When the fireworks had finally cleared, Mahiru held her arms out to catch the girl as she fell back from the sky, only for there to be no sight of her for a few seconds. Then, yet another bright sparkle had clued the rest of the circus into why. Mahiru noted, a little amused, that Hiyoko must’ve blasted herself off into the stars as well... like she’d just done with Teruteru and Celeste. Oh well, they’d all be back eventually. She gave a proud smile to the cosmos before she went with the other performers to finally pack up their last show for the area, but far from the last show of the circus.

Yeah, this was definitely the best show they ever had and ever will have.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think that was a pretty cute ending, don't cha think?
> 
> Anyways, thank you for sticking with and reading this fic and I hope you all had as much fun as I did, thank you so much for reading!


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